LMS launches Sodality of St Augustine

I'm not able to publish of FIUV position paper this month, since we've not made as much progress with them as I had hoped. We have four in an advanced stage of preparation, however, so normal service will be resumed in February I trust.

I thought Rorate readers might be interested in an initiative of the Latin Mass Society, which is suited to an international audience since it is web-based and not limited to LMS members: the Sodality of St Augustine of Hippo.

The
purpose of the Sodality is to unite the prayers of members for the
conversion of those dear to them. There can be few Catholics today who
do not have family members or close friends who have either lapsed from
the practice of the Faith, or never had it; it is a particular source of
grief when parents see children and grandchildren living without the
support of the Sacraments. We take heart from the example of St
Augustine, converted at last by the prayers and tears of his mother St
Monica, and wish to demonstrate our fellowship with others in the same
position, by praying not only for our own dear ones, but for those of
others who will do the same for ours.

Never, I think, in the history of the Church has there been more reason to support this kind of sodality.

1 comment:

I recall a number of years ago a holy priest in a parish close to my home had established a Sodality to St Monica, the mother of St Augustine with the same intentions.

The premise is most accurate. When the discipline surrounding Catholics marrying outside the faith was effectively dropped in the 1970s, a new generation of mixed faith marriages cropped up. As many Saintly Popes had prophesied such marriages will *tend to* yield (I'm sure there are exceptions) non-Catholics or children who have been baptized but deprived of the sacraments and an active life in the Church. This trend was further exacerbated by the laxed discipline in the practice of the faith and the overwhelming influence of modernism and a de facto rejection of the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus meant that those Catholics, now greatly weakened in practice and actual faith, lacked the reasoning which could empower them with the virtue of fortitude in such mixed marriage situations. This created a maelstrom.

Of course, "Catholic education" such as what we have in Ontario, Canada, where students will learn about every religion under the Sun but will not be told what the true religion is was a further weapon towards losing family members away from the faith. It is a fact that priests here in Toronto have communicated to me that close to 80% of "Catholic" students leaving the "Catholic" school system either claim outright or de facto ally themselves as Buddhists or secularists, rather than "Catholics".

We need the Holy Father, but also the smidgeon of good priests and bishops left in the Novus Ordo as well as in Traditional Circles to be ruthless in applying the dictum of discouraging and even preventing where necessary all mixed faith marriages involving Catholics. This may of course drive some weaker Catholics out of the Church, but will prevent generational lapses from the Faith.

In addition, I hold out some hope that "The Year of Faith" will see a re-explication by the Holy Father of the Athanasian Creed and its emphasis on the absolute necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation.